25. Alira
Alira
The dragon dives beneath the mist under the bridge.
A scream gets caught in the back of my throat as I hold on for dear life.
I don’t know how close the sea is or if there is even water down here, but I don’t have to wonder about it for long.
The dragon takes a hard turn toward the cliffside of black stone.
I clutch tightly onto its back and shut my eyes, waiting to feel the impact against the rock, only to reopen them a moment later, realizing that we’re still flying.
A cave beneath the bridge?
My eyes fill with awe as I look around the beautiful space.
The rocks are smooth and cubic, like graphite.
Clinging to all the columns of rocks are hundreds of dragons.
Many of them are sleeping, others are awake and watching us.
The white dragon flies in. They are all relatively the same size as the one I’m on now.
Rideable but not enormous. I have no doubt that they are still very dangerous and that they’ve been here beneath the kingdom all along.
“I don’t want them to attack any of the knights, from either side. We’re just there to make them listen to us and to stop the fighting. Can you get them to follow us to the battlefield?”
The white dragon looks back at me and nods with a clipped grunt that makes me smile.
I thank the gods, for whatever reason, that the dragons listen to me. Perhaps it’s a little gift from Pluto to aid us on our impossible fate.
The white dragon lets out a piercing cry that echoes throughout the cave, and many of the dragons respond in kind. I cover my ears with how loud the echoes are and try to hold on as a dragon exits the cave. At least a hundred dragons fall in behind us.
I need to find King Borlin, but right now I think it’s more important to stop the fighting first. Finding him will be like finding a needle in a haystack, and I don’t have the time for it.
I bring my hand to my side to check for my sword, and I’m shocked when it’s not there. I must have left it behind on the bridge. Neptune. I check my other side and let out a relieved breath when I find my mother’s dagger. Maybe this is the only weapon I truly need.
A sacrifice. The Fates’ words etch into my soul.
It’s not easy to push away the uncomfortable thought and stay focused on what’s ahead. But as we tunnel out of the cave and back into the skies once more, I catch sight of Kalel on the back of his dragon, heading toward the battleground as we are.
He meets us halfway, and his dragon flies up next to mine.
“Were you able to find King Achill?” I shout.
The air is blistering between us; it’s so loud and powerful that it seems like a hurricane is coming.
My heart skips a beat, and I turn to look at the ocean, where a storm unlike any I’ve seen before swells angrily, dark bruised rolls in the clouds and a rising tide.
Neptune, god of the sea? Please tell me more gods aren’t entering this battle.
Kalel sees my fear and assesses the storm approaching just as gravely. His expression is grim and filled with worry.
“No, I couldn’t find him. We’d better hurry!
” he yells over the wind. “Nikolai is in the castle tending to the wounded, and Tessa…” He pauses and shakes his head again, face defeated.
“She called me a traitor. It would seem that she, along with many of the demons, cannot see a vision of the world where our people can coexist… I’m scared, Alira. ”
I bite my lower lip, anxiety coursing through my entire body and stiffening up my limbs. “I think it’s more that they don’t believe in it, not that they don’t want it. It seems like an impossible thing that they can’t reach with their own two hands.” He only gives me a sad smile in return.
It’s not easy to believe in something so hopeless, is it? I clutch my hand over my heart and feel the burning hurt of all our suffering. We must end this.
My attention is drawn back to the battlefield, where the shouts and clanking of metal and armor slow as we approach. Many of the soldiers’ heads tilt toward the sky, fearful shouts and knights spreading out to get away from the incoming dragons.
“It’s working,” I shout.
The majority of the dragons circle above, while a handful of them land with us. The ground shakes beneath our feet and kicks up snow-filled rifts. Knights standing too close to us get blown over by the force of the wind the dragons cause with their wings.
I quickly dismount, followed by Kalel. He stands at my back and gives me a short nod when I look to him, nerves bundling in my chest. What if they don’t listen?
I swallow those fears and stride forward; demons and demigods alike stare back at us, Devicit behind them, still burning, and the storm beyond is approaching. It’s a hellscape.
The veil is gone. The wrath of the gods upon the demons cannot be stopped, not without its protection.
What a godsforsaken mess.
And I have no idea what to do. All I can do is try to set right what is wrong.
“We must stop this senseless bloodshed! If we don’t, there will be nothing left.
The winning side will not have won. You will only have ruined an entire kingdom and brought horror to yourselves.
The gods want this. They want us to be at odds with one another.
We cannot let them destroy us. We cannot let them separate us anymore.
Our hearts are the same; we bleed the same.
” My voice carries over the knights; the ones in earshot of us and were blown over stare in horror, but I’m not sure how much has gotten through to them.
They already look anxious to return to killing one another.
The fighting continues beyond them, knights aware of the dragons around them but locked in sword fights with the others.
I spot the kings, their blades striking loudly. King Achill is the strongest of the demons, and Borlin the same for the demigods. Their battle reminds me of how much energy came off each blow Kalel and I had against one another. Each strike is lethal.
“They won’t hear us!” I cry and look to Kalel.
He shifts his grave stare to the black dragon beside him, and the beast lets out a mortifying roar, many of the knights around us dropping their weapons to clasp their hands over their ears.
“Now, come on, Alira, move!” Kalel grabs my hand, and we charge through the masses while they are recoiling from the dragons. More of them begin to roar and garner more attention from below.
A few knights aren’t thwarted by the fear that evolves as screams and shouts grow from the imminent threat above. Kalel lifts his arm just in time as a sword swings toward us. It scrapes his forearm armor, but my husband seems unfazed and continues to pull me along behind him.
The dragons keep close, growling and traversing the ground quickly behind us and making it easier to get through the horde until we finally come up to the quarreling kings.
King Borlin sits on the back of the tallest onyx stallion I’ve ever seen, golden armor plates adorned on its head and chest while King Achill’s cream-colored one is cloaked in maroon plates.
“Enough!” I shout, and at the same time a bolt of lightning strikes not far off to the right field, setting a tree on fire. Both kings freeze, bloodied and mangled.
They take in the two of us before them and the dragons behind us, who continue to growl and blow smoke at the knights, who seem to be angling to get attacks in where they can.
“You foolish demigod.” King Achill’s voice travels from somewhere to my right.
A look of utter betrayal consumes King Borlin’s face.
“Alira, you would dare to betray your own kingdom? The gods are on our side. We have the demons against a wall. Why are you doing this?” His face is red with fury.
If I were standing right in front of him, I have no doubt that he would cut me down himself.
“Because it’s wrong, because we can exist together,” I challenge him.
King Borlin points his swords straight at me. “We never could before. We can’t now.”
“I used to think as you do, but we can learn to live in peace just as Kalel and I have.” I take a few steps closer to the kings, very much aware of the mixed blood on the ground as I walk past knights gripping their weapons and the motionless bodies scattered beneath them.
King Achill laughs, a cruel sound that cuts right through me.
“And you thought we’d what? Listen to you because you have dragons? You expect us to believe that you would use dragons to kill knights on both sides even though you claim you want peace? You are a very stupid girl,” he lashes out, words cutting me like knives.
“I don’t want them to hurt any of you, but if the few must suffer for the many, then I will. If all the knights must die, at least civilians will be free.” My words must strike a chord with both of them because they give each other uneasy looks before returning their attention to me.
“You’re forgetting one thing,” King Borlin says in a low tone.
Kalel takes a step forward, giving me a worried look and staying close to my side. The black dragon behind us shifts as if he can feel something building in the air.
“Jupiter has heard our prayers. He doesn’t want one last demon walking on Faultore.” King Borlin’s voice is sharp.
That’s right. Not just Jupiter either; Neptune is a threat too if the building storm is any indication.
The strange energy in the air makes my eyes shoot up to the sky. Horror fills every vein in my body as I watch darker storm clouds than I’ve ever seen collect and clump together, electricity static between them.